The Garden Of Forking Paths: Wanna know the Truth?
by Nezzy Crazy Plots Inc
Summary: I'm Dr. Jonathan Crane. After 30 years of being married and having a son... my wife just died. She only left me this notepad... and her brother saying that after reading it I'll want to kill myself. Or I get to kill him. I wonder what she wrote here...?
1. A Queen's Funeral

_**Hello.**_** My name is **_**Story Teller.**_****

I'm going to tell you a story of something that hasn't happened yet. _**But it might.**_** The future changes for every step, **_**you**_**, normal human beings, take.**

The story I'm going to tell is about _**normal human beings**_**. You might be asking yourself... so, is it really **_**interesting**_** to read something about **_**normal**_** people? I would answer that **_**yes**_**, it's **_**boring**_**.**

But what _**you**_** conceive as **_**normal**_** is not the same thing **_**I**_** think of as **_**normal**_**.**

For me, _**every human being**_** is normal. **_**All of them,**_** no matter how intelligent, how powerful or rich. **_**No matter how twisted their lives are they are normal.**_****

They are normal because, _**as every creature born**_**, they have an **_**expiration day**_**: **

_**Their deaths.**_****

Not like _**me**_**, I'm an **_**eternal being.**_****

Originally, I wasn't going take a part in this particular story. It wasn't _**my**_** job. The people who had to tell it found it **_**convenient**_** that a certain person wrote down what they were going to tell.**

If you ask _**me**_**... they are certainly **_**lazy**_** when it comes to **_**work**_**.**

_**Because telling stories is our job.**_** They never really take it seriously. This is the first time I'm going to tell something, I'm not as **_**experienced**_** as them, but I think I'm more **_**professional**_**.**

Without further ado... _**here we go.**_****

_**June 12th, 2043. Bahia Blanca, Buenos Aires, Argentina  
**_**  
This is a **_**funeral**_**. A woman has died from **_**lung cancer.**_****

She died at 68, in an old, big house, from where she and her husband controlled the drug trade of South America.

The funeral takes place there, in the living room, where only her _**family**_** mourns her.**

There you have her husband, a blue eyed man sitting next to her coffin, his eyes empty, looking down to his wife's face crying silently. They've been married for almost _**thirty years**_**. He remembers the first time they met, when both of them were young, living **_**somewhere**_** else. He remembers how afraid he was of her, of the woman who looked more like a **_**creature from hell**_** than a human being, shooting at his door in Arkham Asylum, asking about his degrees.**

_**Back then when he was her employee. **_****

He remembers their first kiss, she barely brushed her lips against his, and then planted small kisses all over his face, saying that she loved him.

He remembers the day his son was born, and the arguement they had over their _**child's name.  
**_**  
He remembers the day the whole **_**family**_** sat at the kitchen's table, deciding how to divide the Company and expand it **_**worldwide**_**. She said she wanted to take South America, where they could manage the drugs trade. Her brother stated boringly that she was becoming **_**predictable**_** as years went by.**

In that corner, you have her _**so called brother**_**. His arms crossed over his chest, his brown eyes lost in deep though.**

He remembers the first time _**he**_** introduced **_**her**_** to the mob, and how the men in the fancy meeting room looked **_**horrified**_** while he held a man down in a chair and she came by with a **_**spoon**_** in her hands, saying only one man was allowed to call her "**_**bitch**_**"... **

**...and that man was **_**her brother.**_****

He remembers how she poked his eyes out with the _**spoon**_**, saying that they would do as her family say, **_**no questions asked**_**. Then it became her **_**trademark:**_** poking eyes with **_**spoons**_**. **

**She gave him one of the eyes to him whispering loud enough for everyone to hear. **

" Souvenir_"_

**He remembers the **_**countless**_** bets they played, and how it seemed that every time he won it **_**backfired**_**. But the same happened to **_**her**_**, anyway.**

Their lives... marked by _**lies**_** and **_**bets**_**. And here he was, watching his s**_**o called "sister's"**_** corpse lying in a red coffin, her red and white suit **_**tidy**_** and **_**ironed**_**. **

**Who was that **_**stupid**_**? She never really cared about her **_**clothes**_**! **_**(Or her image for that matter)  
**_**  
He closes his eyes and sighs. The **_**old good days**_** when The Company only ruled one city: **_**Gotham**_**. Now The Company, **_**so big**_** that became **_**too difficult **_**to maintain working **_**properly**_** without having to **_**delegate**_**.**

A business to run, people to terrorize, buildings to blow up, power and political connections to maintain.

Everything to deliver a _**truth**_** that nobody really **_**understands**_**, no matter how many times it's been **_**told**_**.**

There's a woman in the funeral, _**her sister-in-law**_**. She's holding her nephew in her arms or maybe it's the other way around. She's not sure who's holding who. She cries, and remembers once she tried to kill her, thinking that she was her **_**husband's mistress.**_****

How _**wrong**_** she was... they were just **_**siblings**_**, and the seemingly **_**strong**_** and **_**heartless**_** woman had a traumatic experience that haunted her dreams.**

Without her nephew noticing, she glances the _**widowed**_** crying next to his **_**oh so beloved**__**wife's corpse. **_****

Now she remembers _**exactly**_** why she did love her sister-in-law... **

**That **_**bitch**_** certainly did well turning **_**the oh so sad bastard**_** into her **_**lapdog**_**. She tries not to **_**laugh**_** at the scene displayed.**

She remembers the day _**those two**_** got married, how she got **_**drunk**_** and started yelling **

"Love ya, bitch, love to death you _manipulative bitch__! In your face, you __bastard__! She's gonna make ya suffer to no end! __God bless the fucking Queen__!"_****

And then laugh until she couldn't take it anymore... and then her husband's _**fists**_** colliding against **_**her face**_** while she kept **_**laughing**_**...**

_**She passed out...**_** thinking how **_**miserable**_** The Bastard would be next to the Bitch **_**she**_** had linked **_**him**_** to.**

Her son, _**Joseph**_**, is holding his aunt in his arms, while she cries and embraces him tightly.**

Joseph is 30 years old, and he controls the business in _**Europe**_**. His are eyes brown, like his mothers, and so it's his hair.**

They often say he looks _**more like his uncle**_** than his father, although he's more lanky and not as tall as **_**him**_**.**

He _**knew**_** her mother would die of **_**cancer**_** one day with the amount that she smoked per day: **_**one or maybe two packs a day.**_****

He has some memories of his _**childhood**_**. He remembers the first time they moved to **_**Buenos Aires**_**, the first time they arrived at Ezeiza International Airport, holding both his parents hands while he jumped and sang merrily.**

_**He was just five years old.**_****

He remembers when his mother told him, at fourteen, that he was _**old enough**_** to start doing **_**something**_** for The Company. She called him to sit by her side on a **_**computer**_**, while his father smiled **_**proudly**_** at him. ****Joseph looked hesitant at him. **

-Go, she needs someone to _help her_ - His father whispered to him - That's _why_ she wants you to learn

**It seemed her mother had **_**good hearing**_

-Jonathan _I heard you_. I _don't_ need help, I only want him to learn- She stated icily- One day I'll _die_ and I want this Company to _keep going_

**Both of them stayed silent. How could she talk about her death so **_**peacefully**_**, so **_**calm**_**? **

-Mom, don't say _that_- He had told her, scared of the prospect of her mother dying.

-Every human being _dies_, get used to the _idea_ – she sighed - Come here, _first lesson._ Open, empty and close bank accounts. Create new ones, make them seem _legal_. You could make up one _ghost company_... I'll do some and I'll leave you to do others as _homework_.

**He found hacking **_**terribly boring**_** but highly **_**useful**_**. He preferred when his father taught him how to manipulate people's mind into **_**fear**_**. Or maybe her mother, when she talked to him about **_**manipulating**_** people into **_**liking**_** you enough for them to **_**give their lives for you.**_****

_**A politician**_**,**__**that was his mother.**

Yesterday, his _**mother**_**, the hacker, the politician, **_**died**_**. She gave him something before **_**making his father do it**_**... and now he's holding it in his hands, **_**nervously**_**.  
**  
- I need you to do me a_ huge favor_- Her mother managed to say, her voice raspy and her breathing heavy

**He had been sitting beside her, holding her hand**

-Of course mom- He smiled down at her- _whatever you want_

**She smirked at him smugly**_**, an old habit**_**. Soon she seems to realize it's her son, not an employee. She smiles warmly and caresses her son's face.**

-Open the box _over there_- she had told him, her small hand pointing at the corner of the bedroom her mother had been lying in for some weeks. He went to open it.

** A small notepad, labeled "**_**To Jonathan".**_** He was about to read it when her mother yelled desperate.**

_-NO!-_ she managed to vocalize and grabbed her her chest painfully- That's for _your father_, not for _you_!

-_I'm sorry mom _- He apologized, closing the notepad quickly.

**His mother's desperation only raised **_**suspicions**_** about what might be written **_**there**_**.**

**No, his mother **_**never**_** hid things to family members. Never really **_**lied**_**.**

There was only _**one thing**_** that she never told: **_**Her surname**_**. It was the secret between **_**her and his uncle**_**, although their childhood wasn't any secret for them. They knew about the **_**rich children**_** abused and **_**almost killed**_** by their **_**father**_**.**

-Ok.. _just_..- she started, her voice barely audible- I'm dying, _sweetie_. And I'm _suffering_- she stated- Call your father, _tell him to shoot me_- she said with her voice full of sadness- _it's time._

**Joseph stays there, **_**frozen**_**. What was he **_**supposed**_** to do? She wasn't lying, she was **_**suffering**_**... and she was asking for some **_**mercy**_**.**

Once a strong, feared woman, _**The Puppeteer,**_** was agonizing in a **_**lonely**_** room.**

He understood that she was asking for mercy... but didn't she feel any _**remorse**_** on leaving **_**them**_** alone?**

-_Mom..._ – he tries to persuade her- don't say _that_... there _must_ be a way of saving you- he says with a hint of desperation- _we can... _

-_No._ There is _no way_ to avoid _death_- she interrupts him seriously, her voice cold and commanding- It's _cancer_, there's no _cure_ and there are no _miracles_- she says, her detached voice hinted with defeat- I just need you to _promise _to give _that_ to you father. When I'm dead, _in my funeral_, you will give it to _him_- she told him, looking directly to his eyes- Don't read it, _don't dare do so_- she said, voice breaking, her eyes starting to water- It's my last wish. _Respect it._ Oh and once your father reads _that_... I'm sorry for what will happen. _Really sorry_.-

**No **_**"I love you"s**_** from her mouth. **_**Nothing**_**. It wasn't **_**new**_**, his mother rarely spoke about her **_**feelings**_**. They simply knew she loved them through her **_**actions**_**, the way she looked and smiled at them, both**_** him and his father.**_****

_**They learned to know without her telling so.**_****

He talked to his father. It was funny to see old photos and videos of his parents, when they looked so young, _**so full of life.**_****

Now his father was a _**gray-haired man**_**, his face marked by **_**wrinkles**_** and his blue eyes, behind his glasses empty of any emotion, simply **_**exhausted**_**.**

His father took a deep breath, his eyes watering, and asked him to give him _**his gun.**_****

Joseph hesitantly gave it to him.

His father _**knew**_**... he knew she eventually would ask him to kill her. **_**It was just a matter of time.**__  
_  
- Tell Mom I love her- he said with his face down, his voice barely audible- I don't want to be there _when you..._

- It's ok- his father interrupted him_- I'll tell her.  
_  
**Her father entered the room, closing the door behind him**

After some minutes, _**a gunshot.**_****

Joseph heard it.

_**His mother is dead. **_****

He sat in the floor, and put his hands to his face, crying

10 minutes passed before his father came out of the room. His hand still holding the gun, shaking, his shirt covered in his _**wife's blood.**_****

His father just let himself fall next to him, _**throwing the gun away.**_

-I hugged her while doing it. _She asked me to kiss her before_...- his father started, still shocked at what he'd done- I.... I shouldn't have _done it_- he stammered, his eyes lost in thin air. He looked down at his hands, covered in blood. He started to sob and cry as if a child, completely desperate- But it's _too late_! Look, look what _she made me do!-_ he yells, sounding maniacal- She made me _kill her_, that _bitch_!- he cried harder trying to clean his tainted hands with his pants- She _promised_ not to leave me alone, and...!

** Joseph slapped his father. He was furious at him, not only for his words, also for his actions: **_**he agreed to kill her.**_****

Then he remembered: _**He'd gave him his gun to do it.  
**_**  
He was as **_**guilty**_** as his father was.**

-_How dare you!_ Mom suffered until the last moment, and you only think about _yourself_?- Joseph hissed to his father, disgusted- And how dare you to call her _bitch?!_

- _I can't think my life without her_- his father answered after some minutes of silence, his voice numbed- but she wouldn't want me to _commit suicide..._

**And now, here was the **_**whole family**_**. He has the notepad in his hands, and he has a **_**bad feeling**_** about it. Maybe he was **_**imagining**_** things... but his mother had been hiding **_**something**_**, and the **_**truth**_** might be there. If not, why to ask him to **_**forgive**_** her for what would happen?**

No, his mother had written his father about her _**feelings**_**, the ones she **_**never**_** talked about.**

She wouldn't hide anything _**really important**_** from them. **_**Right?**_****

He's still holding his aunt, who's crying her eyes out.

-Aunt, I need to say _something_ here- he tells the blond woman in his arms- Would you let me..?

-_Yeah sure_- she says, wiping her eyes and loosening her grip on him- I'm sorry...

**Joseph walks next to his father and puts his hands in the old man's shoulders, in a reassuring way. Jonathan doesn't move, he's still too sad, too **_**shocked**_** by his own actions to do something.**

Joseph clears his throat soundly, trying to get the attention of the family.

His father just looks up at him for a moment, just to keep from looking at his wife's corpse.

His uncle just rolls his eyes annoyed at the sight of his... _**sister's little family mourning her.  
**_**  
His aunt, just nods at him and smiles reassuringly.**

-They call us the _Royal Family of Crime_, they say we're _heartless_, we're _crazy_ and that we should _die_- he starts, his voice commanding and never hesitating, just as his parents had taught him- Well, let them be _happy_ that one of us is _dead_- he says, his voice bitter, tainted with sarcasm- They will know The Queen of Hearts, The Puppeteer, The _Soulless_ is dead. They will laugh at the _irony_ of her dying _old and ill_, not a _violent_ _death_ as her _violent life_- he smirks, disgusted by the people who would feel happy about it, who would mock at his mother's death- They wrote _books_ about _us_, they made _documentary films_, and even some _dared_ to made _fiction_, speculating about _our private lives_- he tells the rest of the family cocking an eyebrow mockingly.

**His uncle starts **_**laughing**_**. Everybody looks at him with accusations in their eyes. **_**He just shrugs and smirks**_**  
**  
- _None of them reflected the truth_- he nods to his uncle, who jut makes a gesture with his hand to go on-. Here we are, mourning the _Queen of Hearts_- he says with his voice full of pride at the name of his mother- But we know the _truth_. She wasn't a _soulless_ creature. She was a _mother_, she was a _sister_ and a _wife_. She was _good mother_. She _loved_ us even if she _rarely_ said it aloud-

**And his uncle starts laughing **_**again**_**, this time **_**harder**_** and not making any attempt to hide the sound. He laughs **_**maniacally**_** until he loses his breath, and makes another gesture to Joseph to go on. **

- And I think everybody in this room loved her. We'll remember her as _Alicia_, not as Hearts. Because here we are. Not the Scarecrow, Jonathan Crane. Not The Joker, but Jack. Not Harley Quinn, but Harleen. Not the Cheshire Cat, But Joseph Crane. We're as any other family. I want to remember _my mother_, not the _criminal_. I think all of us want _that, _and so would she- he finishes.

**He takes a deep breath and approaches his uncle.**

-_Uncle Jay? _

-_Yeah?-_ he sounds bored, lifting an eyebrow mockingly.

-I'd like to write her _real name_ in the tombstone. We know what happened to you both- he says with some hesitation.

** Both his father and his aunt look at him as if he were **_**crazy**_**. His uncle Jay just shrugs non-interested**

-Could you let us know your _real surnames?_

-Ok, Kid. _Alicia Jeanny Napier_- he answers making a mock reverence- I don't give a _fuck_ hiding _that_ anymore. _That's our surname_- he says suddenly serious, bitter- But put the _following in her gravestone..._

**His father is completely disgusted, furious at his uncle. They always hated each other, for some reason. He never really understood. He guessed it was because his father, in some way "**_**stole**_**" his little sister away from him, or simply because they're **_**too different**_**. **  
**  
His father gets up from the chair, knocking it roughly at the floor.**

He approaches his uncle, who just looks mildly curios at him.  
  
- I think _I_ should say what's to be written _there_- his father states bitterly.

- You're a nobody, _straw-for-brains_- his uncle smiles down at him, patronizing- I was her ..._everything._

- I was her _husband_, the father of _her child_!- his father protests, his voice raising

- Let me laugh about it. _HA HA_- his uncle Jay says sarcastically- _You really think she loved you?_- he tells his father, rolling his eyes amused- I mean... it's _Queenie_ we're talking about here- he laughs bitterly- She loved nobody _but herself!_ Maybe she loved _me_... but I'll never know _that._

- We lived together for _thirty years_!- his father yells at him furious, pulling a gun and aiming it at his uncle, who just holds his hands in mock surrender, a smirk on his face.

**The situation of his father aiming at his uncle is not **_**new**_**. But it was always his **_**now**_** deceased mother **_**laughing at it**_**, taking the gun off his father hands.**

_**This time it's his job to do it.**_

- _Hey Cheshire,_ you have a _notepad_ there- his uncle asks him, a sinister tone in his voice - _right_?

- _Yes?_

- Give that to your _so called father_- he orders him- _Go ahead!_

**He does as he's told, not because his uncle is **_**ordering**_** him: he promised **_**his mother**_** to do so.**

- Ok, _Birdie_, simple- he addresses his father- _We make a bet._

- Your sister _dies_ and you want to _make a bet_?- his father answers angrily- You don't have any _respect_ to..

- She sure _loved_ bets. We would be... _honoring_ her by making one – his uncle interrupts him, grinning maliciously at him- Read what's in there... _I bet..._ that after you read _that_ you will put a _bullet in your brain_.

- You're _implying_ she kept something from _me_?

- Not _implying_. I'm _stating_.- his uncle's grin widens- If you don't want to _kill yourself_ after _that_...- he points at the notepad- you get to _kill me_- he ends smirking smugly- _How does that sound? _

- _If you keep your word_, it sounds like we'll have _another_ funeral. _Soon_.

- _Yeah...-_ he says nonplussed -what do you want _me_ to put in _your_ gravestone?

**His **_**hatred**_** toward his uncle just increases, seeing him approach his mother corpse. He lowers his head to her level, and whispers in her **_**dead ears.**_

-_Hey Allie... I love you_- he whispers amused, for the whole room to hear- You _won_ that bet! _Happy now?-_ he shouts into his mother's ears, like trying to wake her up. He smirks, caressing her head-_ Hmm too_ _bad_ that it always _backfires_... You're dead, _bitch_- he hisses at her.

**He stays there some seconds, in deep thought. Then he storms out of the room, dragging his aunt with him by her arm.**

-_Harls, we're leaving._  
**  
Both him and his father are left alone in the living room. His father is standing frozen in the middle of the room, the notepad in his hands. His eyes unblinking, his face void of any emotion.  
**  
**He opens the door and calls some employees inside.**

- _Ustedes, entierren a mi mama_- he orders- Rapido.

- _Si, señor._

**Their employees lift his mother's red coffin and take it outside, to be buried in the garden. They haven't decided what to put in her gravestone, not sure if writing **_**only her name**_** along with her **_**alias**_**, some phrase referring as her life as a **_**mother and wife**_**, or as **_**powerful criminal **_**is the right engraving to place there.**

His father looks at his wife's coffin being closed, and taken away. He sits in his chair again, and puts his free hand to his face, closing his eyes.

Joseph just pats his back, both of them feeling empty, _**silent**_**.**

- _Dad..._ just don't listen to _him_- Joseph tell him after some seconds- he just wants to put something _funny_ in mom's gravestone - he shrugs, trying to sound confident although his doubts are noticeable in his tone- This must be a _love letter_, not some _obscure secret._

- Did you read it?

- No, But I know that Mom loved you- he says sadly- Do you want me to read this with you?

- No, I think I'll read it _alone_- he answers, removing himself from his son's arms- It's ok... I'll go to our..._my_...bedroom and read _this_.

**Joseph looks at his father walking to his bedroom, the one he shared for almost thirty years with his mother.**

Jonathan sits in his bed and hesitantly, opens the notepad and starts reading it.

_"Lie, lie and keep lying. If done well enough, they will becomes truths for those who hear them. My life as it is is based on lies... but I shall never break my word... I say we're married, it's true even if I don't love you. Back then I promised to take you as my husband, but I never said anything about me being your wife. You're mine, but I'm not yours. I promised never to abandon you, and I've been always there for you to pull your strings carefully, lovingly and see how you react to a simple word, to a simple touch. I love see how you look up at me with irrevocable adoration, even if it's been more than thirty years since we got married. You're a puppet, our relationship is based upon lies, and you will only find out about it once I'm dead. I know you'll be heartbroken when you read this, I know you will hate me, but I'll be gone. But I still need you to know, that even if started as a lie... I think I lied so much that not only you ended up believing it. Because, at some point... I believed it myself. At some point I loved you as much as you loved me. Only to realize thereafter that I can't love someone who's being manipulated. At some point, you're lying to me as much as I'm lying to you. Because you love the character that I've become for you, not me. In fact, only one person could ever love me for real, and I would never find out if it's so. It troubles me, it haunts me and I'll never find out._

I've given my whole life to show the biggest truth in the universe, and I couldn't achieve it. I can only guess the truth is too big, and us, simple mortals, too insignificant to show something that belong to the gods.

Borges described it as "The Garden of Forking Paths" It's in the library, in Ficciones.

Before you continue to read, I need you to know that even if the person writing this doesn't love you.. I'm sure there are thousands of other universes where I do.

There must be a place where Jack Napier doesn't have any meaning in my life, there must be others where I forget, and other where I didn't start smoking and I'm not dead.

Unfortunately, in this one, I am deceased and you're my puppet. But I can assure you that you're the most beloved one...."

**I think it's enough for today.**  
**  
In that letter Jonathan Crane is reading, one of the biggest truths is **_**lousily**_** written, but it's words are**_** effective. **_****

Now he knows _**for sure**_**. He didn't mean **_**anything**_** to the woman he loved for years. He never lost his rank of **_**employee**_**, she **_**used**_** him as she **_**pleased**_**, and he's **_**miserable**_**.**

He wants to throw away the notepad.. but he doesn't _**dare**_**. He wants to know the **_**complete truth.**_****

The biggest _**secret**_**, the biggest **_**truth**_**. Only **_**two people**_** know it. One's dead, and the other **_**laughing while heading back to Gotham.**_

AN/ Hello there!. For those who didn't read my other stories, it's not completely necessary. In the notepad Crane's _"wife"_ wrote it has a summary... but I would highly recommend to read _"all World's Stage: Wanna hear a Joke?"_ Some things you can read there: A tour to The Joker's , Harley's and Crane's mind... and when I say _tour_ I mean exactly _that_... a _"person"_ showing you around their conscious and subconscious.

Harley being manipulated, huge lies, Crane being a complete jerk with Harley, Harley getting her revenge and Crane doesn't even notice... Crane having "little problems" in bed and the Joker mocking at him... just after the incident. _And a lot more! _

_(I just sounded like a commercial, I know)_

And for those who did read "AW"... this will tell you exactly how the hell Hearts and the Joker can be dead... and still together. This the other side of the story... how exactly the Joker got his scars and how did he... well... die. Remember Femme told something about Hearts being around Crane for years and he doesn't remember anything? well... this is the story.

Anyway.. please leave reviews, constructive critics is welcome (not flames... although I never received one)

Nezzie (This Rat is getting older... and older...)


	2. The Truth

_...But I shall tell you the truth, in simple words. You might not understand it, because you didn't have the fortune (or maybe misfortune) to see it with your own eyes. __  
__  
__I trust your intelligence, always have. That you believed my lies doesn't mean you are a fool. It means that I lied too well, so well that it became truth for you. Maybe you never wanted to open your eyes to reality, and I understand it. There are some things that I didn't want to know, but my curiosity and my unstoppable search for knowledge led me to know things I'd rather forget. But I can't. That's my personal hell and heaven: The Truth. __  
__  
__I won't go philosophical about this (at least not right now). __  
__  
__ I don't want to burden you with mere speculations of a human being... no matter how much I know I'm still nothing but that: a human being who's about to die. __  
__  
__Before starting... I know what will happen at my funeral, after all I know Jack Napier, how he behaves, I know my own son, I know you and Harley. __  
__  
__Take a pen and start marking if I'm correct. __  
__  
__So... I bet I'll be lying in a coffin, for some reason you'll make it red, and Joseph will make some speech about me being a good mother, or something like that. __  
__  
__Jay will laugh at it. __  
__  
__You'll get upset, and you'll point at him with a gun (seriously... how many times has that has happened? I lost count). __  
__  
__Then... he'll see this notepad and will make a bet with you, being smug and sarcastic. I want to stop here. He'll tell you that will either try to kill him, kill yourself, kill Joseph, make a massive destruction weapon and to make Gotham disappear, probably Buenos Aires or maybe London. __  
__  
__That's all the possibilities that he will most likely say. But I think it will be something like " if you don't kill yourself you get to kill me" __  
__  
__Okay. We made bets all our lives... from the very moment we started calling ourselves The Joker and Queen of Hearts. I won some... lost others... but it seemed every time I won a bet it backfired. __  
__  
__We say that we don't plan, you know that we actually do plan some things. And from the first moment I got cancer I've been planning this. __  
__  
__Neither of you will win the bet. I will win this one, and it won't backfire. But if you want... you'll win it along with me. Both you and Joseph... you're my family, not them. __  
__  
__The one wanting to kill himself will be him. He thinks you'll go suicidal because he thinks he knows everything... and he doesn't. It's right, I didn't love you as a wife... you were manipulated, but I didn't lie when I said that you're the best friend a person like could ever have. __  
__  
__It took me years to accept it. I'm still surprised that I actually can feel that way for someone, you know I'm a cold person. Sometimes I did feel confused about it, thinking that I lied so much to you that I ended up believing it myself... but no, I don't have the ability to love someone that way, not anymore. My life would have been easier if at some point I could love you back as much as you love me. I would have certainly been happier. __  
__  
__I find it sad. All this power, so much money and such a miserable life. I've come to realize that puppets, simple puppets like you and Harley can achieve happiness, while we, the so-called puppeteers, are doomed to be alone. We can look at each other, me and the other master puppeteer, we can laugh together and act as if we were happy. We're good actors, everybody seems to believe us. We're just shadows of what we used to be. __  
__  
__I think both of us sold the possibility of happiness for power, money and some puppets to play and have some empty fun with. __  
__  
__And we made such a bad deal. __  
__  
__I don't know what Jack would say about it. Probably deny it. But he's not facing death, he knows he's getting old, but that's all. I know for sure I'm going to die, because I'll ask you to kill me..._

-Hi Jon.

- Hearts, don't make me do it... please.

- I asked you once to kill me because I was suffering do you remember?

- Yes... but do you remember how stupid the situation was? This is just as stupid... there must be a way... something we can do about this.

- Jonathan, look at me. I'm old, I have cancer. Last time I asked you to did this, you could save me from myself. Back then my suffering was different, I thought that you rejected me and I... I didn't want to live without you. I couldn't even see you sitting there in your lab and not to want to at least hug you. I needed you so much... I still need you. But we could solve that problem. Well, you solved it. But this is different, there's no way out.

- My Queen, please don't make me kill you... you promised not to leave me alone. Do you remember that? You said... that you would never put me in this situation again.

- Jonathan, I don't want to suffer anymore... don't you see I'm dying slowly, painfully? Just do it... I promise I won't leave you alone. I'll be around, somewhere... listen. I gave Joseph something. I wrote something for you, and at first you'll hate me, you'll really hate me, but you'll find the way of... I'm sorry Jon, I never wanted this to go this way...!

- There's no way I'll hate you, Hearts.. I can't hate you...

- After reading that you will, and I'm such a coward, I don't even have the guts to tell you face to face!

- Whatever it is, I won't hate you... but I think this time you're right. You don't deserve suffering so much.

- Okay... just.... would you hug me before? And shoot me in the heart, not the head.

- Fine... I love you. It's been thirty years and I still love you... what am I supposed to do after...?

- Just promise me you won't suicide. I don't want to leave our company to Jay and Harley. They don't deserve it. You and Joseph do... no matter what, don't you dare kill yourself.

- You're asking too much, I'm already an old man. I don't even serve any purpose anymore.

- Don't dare say that again, Crane! You may be old but you're still the most intelligent man around, and you helped me to build this organization. Never say you're useless! Never!

- What am I supposed to do... I don't even care about the company anymore... and it's not like we can hold the company without you.

- Please, you're talking bullshit. I'm a hacker. That's all I am. Not big deal, my son knows how to follow my steps and if you don't hold them but paranoia and love, you hold them by fear, and you know how to do that. I'm a nobody!

- Hearts.. calm down... okay I don't want you to get angry and let you... die that way...

- I'm sorry, just... an outburst. Here, lie down with me... Jonathan... you're not only my husband, you're my best friend... the best friend a monster like me can ever have.

- Are... you ready?

- A goodbye kiss?

**He had hugged her while killing her. He placed his son's gun to her heart, and kissed her softly. She closed her eyes and then whispered to him "do it". ****  
****  
****He pressed the trigger, she shot her eyes open. It still haunted him... the last time he saw his wife's eyes opened. In just a moment, in a second, it seemed she was surprised of him actually doing it, actually killing her. Less than a second...then her eyes closed, and as a limp doll, her head fell back. He just hugged her corpse, pulling her head to his chest, rocking back and forth... somehow asking her forgiveness. From her wound blood emanated tainting both her clothes and his. He was there some minutes... trying to believe that nothing had actually happened... then her skin felt so cold against his. ****  
****  
****He just had to accept it. She was gone... and she wasn't going to be back. ****  
****  
****His wife was dead. **

_...Even sadder that I realize this after it's too late, after I can do nothing but wait until I finish writing the truth in this simple notepad. A truth you certainly deserve. You're a good man and a wonderful husband, and even a better friend. __  
__  
__Sometimes I think I would have lived happier as Alicia. Maybe, just maybe, I could have met you as Alicia and we could have been a real couple, not the fabrication I made. __  
__  
__You know... once I met you as Alicia. You were in a courthouse, and without knowing about it, you did me a huge favor. I was compelled to talk to you, to go and thank you for the favor... but I thought "normal" people wouldn't call that a favor. __  
__  
__I was wearing a black dress that day, if my memory doesn't fail... and I actually thought you looked handsome, the kind of man I would date. Isn't it funny how life is? __  
__  
__There must be a world in which I talked to you... and we ended up together, in some twisted way... because my life has been nothing but twisted. __  
__  
__If I ever loved you, I think it was that day in the courthouse. _

-… this young man suffers of cocaine addiction, jail wouldn't be the proper place for him. I recommend rehabilitation, given his conditions and emotional instability with suicidal ideation. It would be helpful for him to spend the weekends with his family. He participated in the robbery and murder of both Juan and Maria Julia Narvaez under the influence of drugs and his peers' manipulation. He stated he killed them because he was told to do so, and because he was scared of the upcoming punishment of the rest of the gang. He did it as initiation ritual, and again, under the influence of drugs. With proper rehabilitation and therapy hopefully he would be a productive member of society.

**There's a young girl in the court, wearing a black, simple dress. Her face is expressionless during the complete trial. Once he ends his speech, she lowers her head with apparent sadness. He doesn't pay much attention to her. She's not beautiful, just a plain Jane, light brown hair pulled in a ponytail, short and skinny. She doesn't seem to be an interesting person. ****  
****  
****Until she raises her face. ****  
****  
****She looks at him, a small smirk on her mouth. Then she hung her face down again, covering part of it with her right hand, apparently sad, but the smirk is still there. ****  
****  
****And there it stays during the whole trial. At times... it seems she is sobbing silently... but he knew better. She was trying not to laugh. ****  
****  
****The trial follows its course, the whole time the girl seems to be "sobbing". Nobody really pays attention. ****  
****  
****He finds it curious... and for some reason terrifying.**

-... the verdict is guilty of robbery and double murder. Under the special circumstances of being a 14 year old, therefore underage, and taking consideration of Dr. Crane's psychiatric evaluation, Mr. Matthews will go to rehabilitation, with the possibility of...

**T****he girl puts her face in both hands, "sobbing" harder... She is up to something. He can almost feel it.**

- Is there any member of the Narvaez family in the room?

**The girl stands up, cleaning her tears with the sleeve of her dress, taking a deep breath. Her face looks sad, grieving. ****  
****  
****Either she had strange nervous tics that made her laugh during a serious moment... or she was a talented actress.**

-Yes. Me. I'm their daughter. I'm sad for what's happened to my parents, however I do agree with the verdict. It's just a poor boy who didn't have all the possibilities I had in life. Everybody deserves a second chance in life... and as you stated, he's just fourteen years old. Just a kid. I hope he can go back to the path of God and be able to have a new life, as a productive member of society. Thank you, that's all I have to say.

-Very well, Miss Narvaez.

**Her words seem sincere, her tears seem real...but there is something amiss in her tone. Something malicious, almost imperceptible. ****  
****  
****He walks out of the courthouse after talking to the judge briefly. The young girl is in the exit, smoking a cigarette, her face smug and satisfied. ****  
****  
****She glances at him, almost piercing him with her brown eyes, a malicious grin starting to appear in her face. ****  
****  
****And she starts walking to him. ****  
****  
****He fastens his steps, just nodding courtly at the weird girl before she could reach him. ****  
****  
****Alicia J. Narvaez. That was the girl's name. He remembers reading the file, she's 21 one years old... but she looks more like a thirteen years old. ****  
****  
****He never bothered thinking about it... nor remembering the face of the strange woman. ****  
****  
****Not until today. ****  
****  
****His future wife... her parents killed in a simple robbery and her brother nowhere to be seen. ****  
****  
****Was it all a lie? **

_A huge favor indeed. Thank you so much for that, Jon...._

**Two months later, Steven Matthews disappears after one of his usual weekends out of Arkham. He was nowhere to be seen afterwards, and it was supposed he simply escaped. His parents just said he left to meet a girl he had been text-messaging, and never came back.  
**  
_You made my first murder easier, so sweet and a cherished memory. Mathew Stevenson (or whatever was his name) is right now sleeping with the fish. And he's been there for forty years._

I got his phone number, and started to talk to him, telling him I was a 15 year old girl, and that I got his number from one of his friends. Of course, I got myself a different phone, and played the part. He believed it, and even told me about the murder, saying that he didn't mean to do it, that he was in rehab.

I just pretended to be a friend, and then after a while, I asked to meet.

Well... I did look like a 15 year old, and it was rather easy for him to want to go to my "parents' apartment", saying I was all alone, my parents having left for vacations. Then I just shot him and cut him in several pieces, first his limps, then his head. I put them in different garbage bags and cleaned the scene carefully. As you might know, I've been always too short and skinny, without much brute force. So, for everyone to see, I was just taking the garbage out. Nobody really asks nothing in Gotham, being such a corrupt city. I just drove to the river and dumped the pieces there, putting stones in the bags that contained his limps, his torso, and his head. That way, as you might know, the pieces would never start to float to the surface. To be the first time, I think I did well, although my satisfaction wasn't fulfilled, I wanted him to suffer more... but I wasn't that creative nor skilled back then.

As years went by, I became more skillful and graceful in torture methods, although I still used some of the old books.

I think my satisfaction would be complete if I would have put spoons in the deal... but I wasn't that artistic. Years would go by before I thought of the multiple uses of a simple spoon.

I've always wanted to thank you for that, but if I did so, I would blow up my alibi.

Every time I kiss you I remember that you were the one helping me. I shot him, I tore him apart and dumped him into the river, but you were the one setting the stage for it.

You set me free... even without Jack I would have ended up being what I am for that small action.

My best friend... a shame I never could love you back. How much I wish I could just forget.... and simply love you.

I envy you. You have the ability to feel. I still hug you, even if I'm here, dying and I know that if I whisper that I love you, if I just look at your eyes and barely brush my lips against yours you're happy. Just a moment, an instant. Then you realize soon I'll be gone, and you're sad again. But in that instant I look at your eyes... you let me know that happiness is possible. Just not for me. I just feed on what's left of your happiness, like a parasite. 

_Happiness, love...they were denied to me. __  
__  
__So, as you're the only person besides my own son I have any kind of feeling for, you're my King to this Queen, you deserve everything... __  
__  
__I don't want you to kill yourself. Don't let him win, he'll tell you things that would make you want to do it, but don't give up. __  
__  
__Remember: He's just my partner in crime, and I'm not referring to illegal business. I'm referring to the person with whom I built my own miserable life, both for me and him. We built our own prison with lies, locked ourselves in it and threw the keys away. It's been a long time since I last loved him. __  
__  
__ I'll leave you proof in my computer to win the bet. I trust your intelligence on how to use it...and you're more intelligent than him. You will outsmart him...hopefully you'll get everything. He'll kill himself, after him Harley will kill herself and the only ones standing at the end of the game... will be you and Joseph. __  
__  
__I've always wanted my "dear brother" to eat his own words, and don't get me started with Harley. I have more than one reason to kill that bitch. __  
__  
__Well... now I will tell you exactly what happened to me and Jack. The real story, not the crappy soap opera I came up one night out of fear of getting killed. __  
__  
__Before starting to read, I would advise for you to please get my old computer, from year 2008. I have it under the bed I'm lying on right now. __  
__  
__Thinking about it… I do love you. Even if it was a lie, Jon, you're the best husband any woman could dream of. __  
__  
__My Real Name: Alicia Jeannie Napier, Maiden name Narvaez. _

**Jonathan looks at the notepad, the black ink in it and his hands start to tremble. Maiden name? She... **_**was married...?**_**  
****  
****Didn't take a genius…it was all a lie. Her **_**dear brother**_**, so bounded, so close, was her **_**husband**_**… ****  
****  
****So twisted, dark…horrible. ****  
****  
****He lived and was fed lies for more than 30 years… ****  
****  
****What did he do to deserve it? **_**Oh yes…Harley could make a list about it.**_**  
****  
****Such a good joke… **_**one small thing**_**, such as taking responsibility over his own acts would have made him a proud, real father. ****  
****  
****Those brown eyes, grin and hair, **_**his so called son**_**… **_**he's not his son at all.**_**  
****  
****He was the son of a **_**lie.**_**  
**  
**Now he understood the joke…**

- I don't want to give him a _normal_ name, Jon.

- He deserves one, _what_ are you going to call him?

- _Cheshire Cat._

- That's ridiculous!  
- Okay, I'll accept with one condition. _History related._ Name him _Joseph_. That's all.

- After whom?

- For me to know and you to find out.

**Lie, lie… **_**Joseph Goebells.**_**  
****  
**_**Knock knock**_

- _Dad, _are you ok?

**It wasn't his fault. It was his. The Joker's.**

**Jack Napier's.**

A/N: Well, it seemed I dissapeared, but I didnt. I was blocked, that's all. Thanks to every person reading and leaving reviews, as you might know, feedback is always apreciatted, I hope you enjoyed the chapter.

Joseph Goebells was the name of the nazi minister of propaganda who said the first line of the "letter" Hearts writes here.

Hopefully I'll update more soon, as well as my other stories.

Nezzy (whose mind is a mess)


End file.
